Speech [The differences between a Western university and an Islamic one]

The differences between Western and Islamic universities should lie in the programs that Islam plans for the universities. Whatever status the universities in the West attain, they only understand nature. They do not master it for the sake of spiritualities. Islam does not view the natural sciences independently. All the natural sciences, whatever their status, do not meet the requirements of Islam. Islam masters nature to make it meaningful. It leads the natural sciences toward unity and monotheism. All the sciences that you name and the foreign universities that you praise- and they do deserve praise- are just a page of the world, a page smaller than all the other ones. The world, from the time God created it up to the very end, is an entity whose natural pleasures are very insignificant. All the natural sciences together are very insignificant in comparison with the divine sciences as all the natural things that exist are trivial in relation to the divine entities. The difference between Islam and the other schools; not the monotheist ones, but between the monotheist schools of which Islam is the greatest, and the others is that in this natural world, Islam looks for a different meaning with regard to medical science, geometry, astronomy, etc.

The one who studies this point in the Holy Qur'an will notice that the spiritual aspect of the natural sciences in toto; not the natural one, is presented in it. All the wisdom that is in the Qur'an and the command to contemplate and reflect on the perceptible world is because of the realm of intellection being the real one whereas nature is an outward form of the world. However, we see this form and experience the trivial pleasures as we exist in the natural world.

It is mentioned in the hadith that" God the Almighty did not look mercifully upon the world when created it." «1» It is not that it is not a part of His mercy; it is a view of what is beyond nature. Those who claim to know the world and its most important aspects have seen only a small, insignificant part of it and are satisfied with just that. The one who say that they know the human being, know only the outward form; not the human being as such but the outward aspect of man's `animality' and think that man is just this and nothing more. These people who claim to be authorities on Islam have understood it only to a small degree, and being satisfied with just this, think that they have understood it. Of all the aspects of man, his natural aspect is the most insignificant, but it is perceptible to us. And because it is perceptible to us who are natural beings living in a natural world, it suffuses us at times. It is physical, not spiritual.

Islam's purpose is to take all perceptibilities and the entire world to the level of tawhid. Islamic teachings are not about nature or mathematics; they are about everything. They are not about medical science. They have all of it, but moored to tawhid. Islam takes nature in its entirety and all the dark shadows to that station of holiness which is the ultimate one of divinity. Therefore, though we, too, commend and praise all the natural and physical sciences- notwithstanding there being no sign in the West of that virtue that Islam wants them to have, and even if it is there, it is only to a small extent- what we seek in the sciences taught in our universities and the ones taught in the old madrasahs[ schools of theology ]is not that as appears outwardly now and with which our scholars are busy. Their work, though highly respected, is not what Islam is after.

What Islam wants and aims for is that all the sciences, whether the natural sciences or the other ones, be moored to the divine sciences and to move on to tawhid. It wants every field of science to possess the aspect of divinity. That is to say that when we observe nature, when we observe the physical world and all the things that exist, we should perceive God in them. Islam has come to take all the things that exist in nature to the position of divinity, and all the natural sciences to the divine science. And this is desired of the universities; not merely in the matter of medicine. Of course, medical science, natural science and curing physical ailments are all necessary. But the important thing is that center of gravity which is tawhid. All these (sciences) must proceed to that divine aspect. We should not think that if, for example, there is a science about Islam, it is like the sciences that the people or all the regimes have in their minds.

Islam desires that sublime end in everything. It views all the things created not as they are, but in the spiritual sense and on that lofty plane. It views nature as a manifestation of divinity; a wave from the Invisible World. It views man as a being out of which a divine creature can be made. The training given by Islam is divine training as the Islamic government is a divine one. The difference between the Islamic government and the other ones is that the latter aim to prevail over and dominate others. Islam is not like this; this is not its purpose. Islam does not want to conquer countries for the sake of conquest. It views conquest as a means to take the countries toward another world. Its aim is to train everybody to be human beings and not to exploit them such as the regimes- whether of the West or those of the East- that you saw and are now observing. The aim of these regimes has been to dominate others and obtain material benefits. Islam basically does not consider materialism as being important. Whoever studies the Qur'an will see that all the material things are in it, not as materialism but as (proceeding to) another stage; as teachings for another stage.

The Islamic government aims to establish God's rule over the world. That is, it wants the Muslim soldier to be different from the other soldiers; to be a soldier of God. It wants a Muslim minister to be different from the other prime ministers; to be a divine person. It wants the cry of" Allah" to be heard in every corner of the country. This is what Islam wants. By means of conquest, Islam wants to show God everywhere in the world; to give divine teaching to the whole world. It wants to train people to be human beings and to take them to that place which they cannot even imagine. Therefore, we have to allow a difference between the sciences that are viewed separately and the ones that Islam propounds. All the former ones are there in the Islamic sciences in addition to something else. The worldly sciences are just these; they lack that additional feature. The difference between Islamic sciences everywhere and the other sciences is that there is something additional in the Islamic sciences which is lacking in the others. And that additional factor in Islam is the aspects of spirituality, holiness and divinity.

You are aware of Khwajah Nasir «2» and others such as him. You know that Khwajah Nasir did not enter the government organizations just to manage them, but to make human beings of the people working in them. He did not join the government to be under its influence, but to control it to the extent he could. The things that Khwajah Nasir did for the religion were those that made him famous as Khwajah Nasir. It was not his knowledge of medicine, nor of mathematics. It was his service to Islam. Khwajah Nasir cultivated Hulagu, «3» and others like him, not out of personal ambition or to run the government, but to bring them under his sway, and to serve God and the Islamic world to the extent of his ability. The others like him such as Muhaqqiq ath-Thani, «4» the late Majlisi «5» and others of their kind [...] The late Majlisi who was in the Safavi establishment made a cleric of the Safavi king; he did not become a Safavi himself! He turned the attention of the Safavis to the madrasahs, to knowledge, learning, and the like to the extent he could. Therefore, we should not imitate (the passivity) of the common clergymen of that time. We have the same duty to do now; that is, if we are able to carry it out. At that time, we would have also rendered the same service as they had, if we had been able to, the reason being to build man. It will be a great accomplishment if one is able to make a human being out of Muhammad Rida. The prophets were sent for this very purpose. The Noble Apostle used to worry over the unbelievers not becoming Muslims and not heeding these matters.

" It may be that thou tormentest thyself (O Muhammad)" «6» as they were disregarding his traditions.

In every case, the prophets came for the purpose of building people to become human beings. The knowledge of the prophets concerns the building of man. The Qur'an, too, is a Book about building human character. It is not a text on medicine, philosophy, jurisprudence or any other discipline. If one studies the Qur'an carefully, one will see that whatever appears in it concerns the divine aspect. Whatever is discussed in it is within the framework of divinity. There is every thing in it, but it is in its divine framework. Islam has come to serve God. The prophets are the servants of God. They have come for His sake and for turning the attention of all the created things, and all the human beings in this world to God, the Blessed and Exalted.

I hope that our universities will undergo a spiritual change; a transformation, just as many things in this movement underwent a transformation. You saw that this great spiritual transformation that took place in Iran was more important than this victory itself. Nobody would allow himself to oppose the policeman; the thought of it would not even occur to him. Everybody everywhere would obey. Even when the policeman came to the university, the people there would obey him. But after a year or two, it so happened that the people poured into the avenues shouting," We do not want the Shah"! And they triumphed. That spiritual change converted that (people's) fear of a policeman into courage because of which the people did not even fear the tanks. That same person, who once used to fear a policeman's baton, came out into the street and fell upon the tanks with his fists clenched. And though he was killed, he had attacked the tank nonetheless. Such was the transformation that had occurred in the course of this movement. The Hand of God was at work. It was not something that we, or human beings, could have done; not at all. It was God's favor done to us. It was a favor that God, the Blessed and Exalted, did to this nation and changed it in such a way that they became like the soldiers of the early period of Islam who used to say that it would be to their benefit whether they kill (the enemy) or get killed. The people came to me again and again, and do so at times even now. It was perhaps only yesterday that as I was going from here, somebody came up to me and told me to pray for him to be martyred. This transformation, because of which the people would look upon martyrdom as a great blessing, and would come into the streets in the hope of perhaps getting martyred, was one that brought about this victory. This transformation ought to be maintained.

What is essential is that you, who are in contact with the youth in the university, remind them that this transformation that was the secret of their victory and brought them up to this stage, and because of which they were able to smash this big satanic barrier, ought to be safeguarded along with this movement so that we could later have our own independent university, our own theological madrasahs and our own army. We have nothing. We cannot claim to have had anything. Neither did you have a university, nor did we have a theological school. All of these were in their (ex-regime's) hands. Everything was done according to their instructions. The Security Organization wanted to run everything. Our mosques were controlled by the Security Organization. It had planted a retired person in each one of them in order to supervise them. All the affairs were in their hands. By this upheaval, we curtailed and are curtailing their power, God willing. And later on, you the esteemed university professors, and I as a seminarian, each in our respective places, should safeguard this movement and this unity of expression and not split up into groups.

You will have noticed that a hundred groups in Tehran have announced their formation! That is, a hundred groups opposed to Islam although they themselves do not understand. Although they themselves say that they are doing it for Islam. But when with the solidarity of all these people we were to move ahead, all the groups had become united and were together until we reached this stage. That is, the university did not say that it is separate from the clergy, the clergy, for its part, did not say that it was separate from the university. And neither did they say that they are separate from the party, the party from the front, or the front from something else. Such matters were not raised at that time. We succeeded because there was no such talk and it was the will of God. All the people wanted Islam and all were disgusted with oppressors and their cruelty. Now that we have reached this point, this danger has arisen in that various groups are constantly declaring their existences! A certain group announces its existence under some name; another group there under another name. Groups are forming one after another and are losing that solidarity which was there. If we lose the solidarity we had and if the university and the clergy go their separate ways with both of them getting separated from the people and with the existence of the various, divergent parties that are, unfortunately, ill-disposed toward one another, then we are afraid that in such a case, our movement will not reach the fruitful end that it should. The result will be that neither your university nor our madrasahs will attain what you and we have in mind.

The aim that we ought to pursue now and strive to that end is that you in the university, we in the madrasahs, the gentlemen in the cities and the others everywhere invite the people to observe unity of expression and to eschew this divergence of paths. All of us, with unity of expression, want to have a just Islamic republic and a just Islamic government; one which allows the freedom to think, to express one's opinion, to act and to have freedom in all things. We wish to set up such a government. Unless there is this unity of expression, and unless this unity that helped us smash this barrier is safeguarded, we will not be able to achieve our aim. I am now afraid of this divergence which I think has not happened haphazardly. I am afraid that hands are at work to create discord and to form groups and groups that have been constantly announcing their formation in the newspapers! A hundred groups all hostile to one another! A hundred groups without any consideration for the country. They think that they care about the country, but it is not so. That is what they think! They are against this path that the movement followed and because of which it achieved victory.

Neither can you hope to have an independent university, nor can we hope to have the freedom to preach and pray if this unity is not maintained. I hope that everything turns out well, God willing, and that all of us remain together. We should have the correct outlook and should not consider ourselves as being apart from one another. All of us are Muslims and possess Islamic beliefs. We want our country to be independent; to be our very own together with its resources, and the people to enjoy the fruits of their labor. We want the country's spiritual and material aspects to be taken care of; all those matters. If all these things are in place and we remain together, then victory is ours as it has been up to now, and will be so to the very end, God willing. You can teach the sciences with peace of mind in the university, and we, too, can continue with our theological teaching with peace of mind.

I ask God, the Blessed and Exalted, to give you success, and hope that we will pursue the path that He wants us to follow. I hope that we will succeed in delivering this country; rather, all the Muslim countries, God willing. May God assist you.